Water heater



Sept. 29, 1931. J. P. MoRLEY Ins-325 v WATER HEATER Filed Feb. 1o. 192sashun-smut 1 wfw lm I t SePt- 29, 1931- J. P. MoRLl-:Y 1,825,326

WATER HEATER Filed Feb. l0, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 20 I9 z2@ 1Q 20 l t r1 W Hf- Hl II, ff

| y' fgjfLcA/ezh Patented Sept. 29, 1931 UNITEDl STATES PATENT OFFICEJAMES P. MORLEY, O15` MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO BASTIAN-MORLEYCOM- PANY, OF LA PORTE, INDIANA, A CORPORATION F INDIANA WATER HEATERApplication fliedv February 10, 1928. Serial No. 253,267.

a burner therebeneath to heat the waterl therein and cause circulationof the same.`

Practical demonstration has shown that there are certain conditions inthe use of spreaders which may be improved upon. More s ecifically, thegases from the burner whic strikethe lower convex bottom of the spreaderare hot and eectively heat the spreader surface and the waterin con*tact therewith. These gases are directed upwardly around and over thespreader walls, in part, by the natural tendency of such gases to rise,and due to the shape of the spreader and its wall such gases are spreadout upwardly against the bottom of the storage tank and eventually findtheir way to the usual fiue passage through the stor age tank. Whilethese gases are originally hot, live and active gases, they may tend tospend and become exhausted, dead or inactive and cold gases as theyreach some points against the bottom of the storage 80 tank remote fromthe burner,-and as they enter andv pass through the flue,-and lat 'someremote points on the spreader. As these gases become inactive and cooledthey are no longer effective for heating and may tend to collect atthese remote points in the form of a cold film which'insulatessuchsurfaces from the out'coming hotter gases. Such cold film or Vfilmsare in a more'or less dormant condition and, in addition to insu-f 40lating, tend to cool the oncoming hotter gases and furtherrender themless effective. The gases which eventuallyr exhaust through the fluetend to aid inthe heatingoffthe n water, but this tendency is limtedbythe cold gas film which may collect on the flue walls and insulate thesame from the hotter gases, and Vby the cooling action of the coldergases.

y Aresult ofthe foregoing Ais that` the full benefit is not derived fromthe heat applied,

5D and the percentage of fuel 'waste andthe cost of operation are higherthan desirable.

One of the objects of my invention is to remedy the foregoing conditionsby the provision of means for applying hot gases directly from theburner to all points remote from the burner and for co-mingling such hotgases with the gases which may tend to cool in such a manner that allsuch gases are maintained as live, active and effective gases. l F

4Another' object is to increase the efficiency of the heater as a whole,and to that end my invention, in part, provides additional heatingsurface internally of the spreader which acts on the water entering thespread-1, a

i er in such a manner that the rate of How therethrough, toward andthrough the riser pipe is greatly increased. This Vtends to not onlyincrease the circulation, but also the temperature rise. "'l m A furtherobject is to improve combustion. The gases ofl combustion are caused tomove away from the combustion space beneath the spreader faster thanpreviously, and the possibility of the accumulation of' tu dead gases atthat point is eliminated.

Other, and more specific, objects are to mixfthe hot and fully effectiveburner gases with the gases which tendto become cooler and to 'renderthem efiicient to `produce a' uniform heating effect throughout theareas subjected to the heat of burner gases; to prevent the formation ofexhaustedand cold gas pockets as well as insulating films of the gases;to render all the gases passing* a5 through the heater flue active toapplya 'heating effect to the water lin the tank; to

provide for economy in fuel consumption; to increase the heat-rise on asingle traverse of the water through the spreader; and to provide asimple and highlyefiicient spreaderconstruction which may be made as asin (fle castingand which may be readily and *k1 quickly installed inconnection with new heaters or heaters already in use.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this descriptionprogresses and by reference to the Vdrawings wherein,-

- Figure 1 lis a vertical sectional view through the lower portion of awater heater un Fig.3` is a vertical section @through lthe 'centralportion of the spreadei-ofY Fig.2

.andtaken substantially on line 3-3 of that wilg-ure; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken 3.and 4) convex top andbottom walls 10 substantially on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, and particularly"Fig. 1, I have shown a spreader 10yembodying'iny 5 invention and associated with a storage tank 11 havingits wall 12 extended beneath'lthe parts of the tank bottom 13, the upperpart of the spreader 10 and the flue 16. These gases form insulatingfilms upon the surfaces at these remote points insulating such surfacesfrom the oncoming hotter gases,

I unless-otherwise provided for. vMy invention takes, care'of suchcondition and rendersall of the gases fully effective even at the mostremote points and one forni of construction whichv I employ to' that endwill now be'described. The spreader (Figs.

and '10b are integrally joined at their edges bya 'cylindricalandvertical wall 10C to provide a comparatively large water heat- =ing andcirculating chamber 18 having its lbottom 13 and enclosed-to-form alower com- "bustion chamber 14 which receives bothlitlicfy Aspreader 10andlthe burner 15. iThisbiirner liiiaybeof any desired-fornr'adapted toreadily birrn'gas,foil,or'other desirablefuel;

u 35 through the body of the waterinthefstorage bottom wall downwardlydirected and its .top wall upwardly directed. Radial and opposed'.hollow ribs 19 are formed,preferably, fintegrallywith and upon ythe topwall 10 of thesprea-der providingcold-water intake passages 20i abovethe upper wall in -com- Imunica'tioii` with theV spreader chamber 18atnthe gouter edges thereof through openings 21.

:passages 20 and adaptedvto'fbe carried by a bushing 23 secured to thetank bottoml 13:

f-in awater-tightimaniier. It will be noted "tank and is-carried by the'top`Y and bottom`v wallsoftlie klatter'iirthe usu'al manner. It "willbenotedthat thisifl-ue: -16 is tfsetwith `irelation tothe burner andgspreader to permit the burner and 4spreader to bearrangedconcentrically within the'combustion'chainber-to aid in moreequalldistribution of the i burner gases. rThe spreader is somewhatlcylindrical'in outline vwith AceiiveX topl and Avvthat the gases`fromthc burner' 15 str-ikethc :bottom of the `spreader and are directedupinwardly :about its walls to be `equally distril Uiitedthereover andover the area ofthe storage'tank bottonifall of' which addv tothec'ici'ency of the structure. "-Furth-ermore,

' the" liuc passing through the interior off'the tank and carrying theexhaust gases con- G5* `time they reach' some of the-more lremote th'atthe base of the threaded spreader neck 22fisz-provided with seat '22aadaptedlo receive ancrnially-flat and soft metal wasli- *erQQlfwhichcooperates with afsharp edge'= portion ofthe 'bushing 23 to effect atight seatbetween the spreader and such busliing'whieh is not only'water tight but niay be readily broken for quick and'ready're` moval ofthe spreader unit.

VToapply tlie'hotter gases from the burner directly to and become mixedwith cooler'gases at the remote points above the nspreader, along thebottom ofthe tank bottom-walls an'd'the-arrangement is such bottomy andin the flue 16,' I provide a pluf ral'ity of-liollow ribs or iiues 24which are Ycast Iintegral vwith and 'extend vertically vthrough thespreader walls on the opposite sides of the hollow'ribs 19, and whichalso pass through the spreader chamber adjacent'- its central portion.These flue walls may 4be straight oi flared as desired Without departingfrom my invention. As indicated generally, and diagrammatically in Fig.1,

itis obvious 'that somev of the ygases from the burner 15 will strikethe bottom of the spreader and lick upwardly around its bottom walls andaround its top walls and up againstthe bottoni of the tank, and sonic ofsuch gases will also pass directly through'- ythe vertical'liues 24 andintothe environnient immediately 'above the spreader, along Vthe tankbottom and into the flue 16. These flue-directedV hot gasesv mingle withtlie jgases which tend to -becomevcoolerA and maintain Ithe sameY ashot, active and effective gases,

landalsoprevent the formationof insulating films of cold, dead andinactive gases,

ther'eby rendering all gases .of combustion fully effective. Y y

`In fact, practical demonstration has conclusively shown that thesespreader flues render the burner gases substantially 100%l effective-and reduce the fuel consumption and cost of operation to a highlyappreciable extent.

tisbelieved that the operation of the l heater as a whole will'bereadily understood fromI the foregoing, and it may be stated generallyas follows: Viith the burner 15 in operation, applying a flame upwardlyagainst the bottom of the spreader, the waterin contact with thespreader Vbottom is immediately heated and tends to rise towards thecirculating pipe 25, and this action is followed by an incoming flow ofcold water from the bottom of the tank through the hollow spreader neck22, cold waterpassages and openings 21 into the spreader chamber 18. Theparts are so arranged that small concentrated streams of cooler waterare spread over the lower wall of the chamber 18 which absorbs heat toa. high temperature. This incoming water becomes a heated to the pointwhere it starts to rise and, as it rises, the foregoing action takesplace again and is repeated continuously as long as the heater is inoperation. The cold water intake passages are sufficiently few in numberand are sufiiciently small that the` incoming streams enter at such avelocity that the water passes far enough beyond the point oftermination of the cold water passages before enough heat has beenabsorbed to stimulate rising, with the result that as the water startsto rise, it is well under the curved upper wall of the spreader chamberositively directed upwardly toward the riser pipe insuring a continuityof circulatory action.

18 and is The flues 24 in passing through the spreader chamber 18 nearits central portion causes a further and',-

quicker heating effect which still further stimulates the circulatingaction at that point in a manner which will be well understood. v

Actual demonstration has shown that witl my invention, the spreaderabsorbs more heat per B. t. u.s fired than is the caserwith previousforms of spreaders. This added efliciency, comparatively speaking, maybe readily converted into (a) increased circu-V lation,` or increasedvolume of water induced through the spreader without 1raising thetemperature of the water; or increased temperature rise by maintainingthe flow volume constant. These are highly desirable features because inthe use of non-autamatic heaters it is advisable to have the highertemperature rise to accommodate the circulating the water must be heatedto the desired temperature in one passage of the same through thespreader. The provision for increasedtemperature rise makes thispossible;

A In automatic heaters the Water inthe storageltank is maintained at thedesired temperature at all times and the reserve is suf ficient tosupply the demands of the use until the burner can more slowly replacethat used. This condition is taken care of by `converting the increasedefficiency of my spreader into increased circulation or increased volumeflow through the spreader? An additional advantage of my invention inautomatic heaters is 'that on the second turn over7 of the water theincreased circulation or increased volume of water induced through thespreader may'servertd'fl S5 hold the water below a temperature point atwhich it would `deposit all lime in the spreader. i

The flu es also improve combustion conditions.

I have found that in the use of pref yvious spreaders the burner must bespaced point. Thus, my invention insures complete combustion in the usevof small vcombustion chambers; and, in fact, provides for the use ofsmaller combustion chambers, if desired", which reduces the coste Itwill beunderstood that while I have rshown only one embodiment of` my.invention, it is susceptible of various changes in details andarrangement of parts withoutA 1w departing from the s irit and. scope ofmy invention as 'defined by' the claims which follow. Y

IV claim:

1. A thermosiphonic fluid heating unitnis including a spreader formed ofva single casting including opposite convex walls joined at their edgesto form a water compartment, opposite hollow ribs upon said walls and incommunication with said chamlA ico ber, pand heat conducting elementsextend ing through said chamber at the side of said ribs and at thecentral part of said chamber functioning to accelera-te the circulatingaction of the water at, said points of the' iz'i chamber. a

2. A' thermosiphonic water heating and structure for Water heaters whichcomprises aplurality of Walls forming a wat-er heating and circulatingcham?V Fi? ber, one of which walls is adapted to be subjected directlyto heated gases, cold water inlet means at the periphery of said chamberfor discharging a concentrated y stream of water into said chamber atsuch a relatively high velocity that said stream passes along saidheated wall and to a point near the mid-part of said chamber before itreceives substantial circulatory stimulation from said heated gases, andmeans passing through said chamber situated near the mid portion of thechamber and remote from the cold water inlet `means for supplying heatfor co-acting with part of the heated gases applied to said heated waterfor further heating the water in said chamber and for accelerating thethermosiphonic circullation thereof without substantially impeding thevelocity of the incoming cold water through said inlet means.

y 3. A thermosiphonic iiuid heating unit including a spreader for waterheaters which comprises convex top and bottom walls -iorming a waterchamber the bottom of said walls being adapted for the application ofhot gases directly thereto, cold water conduit means discharging intosaid chamber at the periphery of the latter adjacent the A juncture ofsaid walls, said means including vhotgases applied to said bottom wallfor accelerating the circulatory action of the water in said chamber ina path vertically along the mid portion of the latter.

4. A thermosiphonic fluid heating unit having oppositely concaved heattransmitting walls united at their peripheries and spaced at all otherpoints to provide a Huid 'heating chamber therebetween, one of saidwalls being provided with cold water intake means extending transverselyof the chamber and leading to a point adjacent said peripheral junctionto provide a clearance passageway for fluid in said chamber, an exitpassageway leading from said chamber 'through said wall, and a pluralityof flues associated with said chamber at points remote from the saidcold water intake means adapted to receive heating gases to therebyfurnish additional heat for the water at the `points of locationthereor" to accelerate the thermosiphonic circulation thereof throughsaid spreader.

5. Afthermosiphonic- Huid heating unit comprising a chamber boundcdbytwo-'oppositely concaved heat transmittingwalls, cold waterv intakelmeans radiating/from a point above said chamber andcommunieating attheir outer ends with'said chamber at points adjacent the junction ofsaidI walls, an outlet passageway for said chamber leading through thetop thereof -andf'supplemental heat conducting means associated' withsaid chamber at points remote4 from the said cold water intake meansadapted to accelerate the thermosiphonic circulatory movement'of thewater passing through said spreader.

In testimony whereof, I have'subscribed my name.

JAMES P. MORLEY.

